Stu’s Reviews

Stu’s Reviews- #773- TV Series – “Bodies”- Netflix -1 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B-

Notable People: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor, Shira Hass, Kyle Soller, Stephen Graham, Created by: Paul Tomlin

Title: Bodies

Review Absolutely bizarre mini-series in which four different detectives, in London, in four different time periods, find themselves investigating he exact same murder. I had a really hard time keeping up with the constant time switches and the believably of the primary concepts, but this show has been immensely popular on Netflix, and Jenn really liked it- so take my dinging it with a grain of salt…. I guess. The cast is good and Graham dos EVIL really well in whatever he is in. The attention to detail for the various time periods (1890s, 1941, 2023 and 2052) are nicely done. Personally, had a hard tie staying awake for much of it- but then again, not a big Sci-Fi fan.

Stu’s Reviews- #772- Film – “The Unknown Country” (Amazon Prime)

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Lily Gladstone, Raymond Lee, Richard Ray Whitman, the Shangreaux Family, Directed by: Morissa Maltz

Title: The Unknown Country

Review: Reeling from a devastating loss, Tana (Lily Gladstone) is pulled back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She packs up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the open road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana sets off to retrace a surreal journey that her grandmother took decades ago, searching for the spot captured in an old family photograph. As she travels, Tana finds connection in the stories of everyday people who’ve settled down far off the main roads. Quite, beautiful film with wonderful stories from real people. Well-acted, eerie soundtrack, amazingly shot. Got a 91 grade on Rotten Tomatoes. Stream for $5.99 rental on Prime or sign up for 7 day free trial on MOBI through Prime (then cancel)

Stu’s Reviews- #771- Book – “Every Cloak Rolled in Blood”- James Lee Burke

Genre: Book

Grade: A-/ B+

Notable People: James Lee Burke

Title: Every Cloak Rolled in Blood

Review: this may be the most challenging book to review (as in grade) yet for me. I believe that Burke may be one of the 2-3 greatest living American authors-and that is an opinion shard by quite few. By his own forward to this book, this is his most personal work of his 60 plus books, and in his opinion, his best. It is clearly his most autobiographical and emotional; in many ways the story of his extraordinary grief after the passing of his daughter, Pamela, which coincided with the inherent losses of the pandemic. The book is gut wrenching and extremely powerful. I like a lot of that, but it is also pretty out there in terms of mysticism/ephemerality……and sometimes hard to tell between the two. This was a quite hard read for me at times; both painful and consuming, but then there is his legendary prose to consider. How do you ignore a sentence (run on as it may be like this: “And the most poignant image of all, the one that defined the existential and ephemeral and heartbreaking imprint on our souls, one we could neither quarrel with nor of our own volition, choose to reject; an orange moon in late autumn above an ocean of sugarcane swirling in the wind, the stalks hammered with streaks of purple and gold, clacking like broomsticks, the smoke from the sugar refineries electrified with floodlights, all of it as transient as an ancient fish working its way out of the sea and onto the sand.” .

Burke is an American giant of letters and this book basks in many of the themes and characters of his legacy. If you like Burke, worth a try…he is a great, great writer.

Stu’s Reviews- #770- Album – “The Sun is Shining Down “- John Mayall

Genre: Album

Grade: A-

Notable People: John Mayall and the most recent version of the Blues Breakers, Produced by: Eric Corne and john Mayall

Title: The Sun is Shining Down

Review: Maybe nothing new or remarkable here –except that the undisputed Godfather of British Blues is still making fine albums well into his ninth decade. Every great British blues musician has done boot camp with Mayall’ s Blues Breakers (think Clapton, Page, Beck, John Mark, Johnny Almond and an endless list that far surpasses my available space)-and this version of the band is as good as ever. Mayall composed al the songs and lends his masterful vocals keyboards and unsurpassed harp to the proceedings (did I mention his uplifting blues songs that play against type?) along with the crackerjack band and surprise guest musician, Scarlett Rivera, on violin. Got Blues????-

Stu’s Reviews- #769- TV Series – “Mr. In Between”- HULU -3 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A

Notable People: Scott Ryan, Damon Herriman, Justin Rosniak, Created by: Scott Ryan

Title: Mr. In- Between

Review Brilliantly eccentric Australian dramedy that combines utter hilarity with absolute darkness. Ryan developed and is masterful in the lead role as a tortured killer-for-hire and all around pursuer of non-legal justice remedies-but also a loving brother and father and general softie in the right circumstance. Hard to decide whether you despise him or admire him from minute to minute. He simply owns this role and what seems like fluff early on in this series becomes downright existential at times as the show evolves. The supporting cast of wackos is wonderful. Half hour show that seems much longer-but pretty intensely engaging. Sadly, ending after three great seasons.

Stu’s Reviews- #768- Book – “An Evil Heart”- Lind Castillo

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Linda Castillo

Title: An Evil Heart

Review: Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo. Castillo continues to write insightfully about the nuances of Amish culture and her characters have become much more fleshed out and substantive over the course of this series. Some of the themes, and musings, are pretty repetitive but the stories are all barn burners and the inside scoop on this unusual culture is quite engaging. This is one of the 2-3 best offerings in this long running series and a can’t- put- it- down type of 300 page quick read (a gift after several 1000 page tomes)

Stu’s Reviews- #767- TV Series – “The Pacific”- Netflix/HBO -1 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+/B

Notable People: James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Sela, Ashton Holmes, Josh Helman, Created by: Bruce McKenna

Title: The Pacific

Review This mini series is a companion piece to the highly awarded HBO 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, but is focused on the much lesser known Pacific theater (interesting r?) of WWII. The sheer brutally of the endless battles from Iwo Jima to Okinawa through a hundred tiny and remote islands is staggering. The story is derived from the post-war books written by two of the three main characters and is generally a true story. The endless battle scenes can be bit much at times- very realistic and you feel like you are there dodging pieces of flying human flesh. The back stories are more accessible. Well done, well shot, and very informative- the utter horror of this war makes for more sympathy of why we dropped the bomb.

Stu’s Reviews- #766- TV Series – “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”- Paramount Plus -1 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: David Oyelowo, Lauren Banks, Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Forrest Goodluck, Created by: Chad Feehan

Title: Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Review: The latest of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone related franchise is the true story of Bass Reeves– a former slave who became an American lawman. He was the first African-American US Marshall west of the Mississippi River and became a folk hero for his fight against ongoing post-civil war slavery practices. Sheridan is clearly the master of the modern day western and Oyelowo is compelling as the main a character, but the show felt a bit stiff and somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the cast is sterling and the cinematography and attention to period detail is wonderful. Banks excels as the long suffering frontier wife. This is a major statement about the role of African -Americans in the settling of the West-one we have seen little of before. The “Lawmen” franchise is scheduled to continue with different historical protagonists each season- but this is one and done for Bass.

Stu’s Reviews- #765- TV Series – “NYPD Blue”- HULU -12 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A+

Notable People: Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Ricky Schroder, Mark -Paul Gossalaar, James McDaniel, Gordon Clapp, Henry Rollins, Sharon Lawrence, Kim Delaney, Amy Brenneman, Nicholas Turturro, Charlotte Ross, Bill Brochtrup, Jacqueline Obradors, Esai Morales, Created by Steven Bochco and David Milch

Title: NYPD Blue

Review: From THE VAULT. We always a have a show that we watch while eating dinner on TV tray table several nights a week, re-creating our 50s-60s childhoods- and NYPD Blue had been it for most of the last five years-took that long to get thru 12 seasons and over 250 episodes. The show ran from 1993 thru 2005, and may genuinely be the forerunner of what the art of streaming TV has become. Brilliantly shot and conceived, dark, gritty, funny and covering a virtual landmine of social issues week after week that stand up yet today. The cast was beyond perfect; Franz so well defined as the alcoholic curmudgeon, Andy Sipowitz, that he was hard put to find another role after this one. His four partners over 12 years, Caruso, Smits, Schroder and Gossalaar were a parade of primo matches. The supporting cast of the 15^th precinct featured a who’s who of fine character actors and many of the show’s guest stars went on to great fame and fortune after the NYPD stepping stone. Captivating, hard hitting and the original must-see hour of television. If you have never watched, take the plunge. If like us, you are looking to revisit a classic, it was even better the second time around. I wept at the ending of season 12- episode 20 as Sipowitz fades away into the background. Brilliant.

Stu’s Reviews- #764- TV Series – “Hacks”- HBO Max -2 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A

Notable People: Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Created by Jen Statsky and Paul Downs

Title: Hacks

Review: Brilliantly written and conceived dark comedy about a dark mentorship formed between Deborah Vance, a legendary, and fading, Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer. Smart, of Designing Women fame, is flat out THE Bomb on this eccentric and sleeper of a show. Th supporting cast is great and the capture of both Vegas fade and LA posh- fake seems dead on and ridiculously funny. Alternating between great one liners and really complicated relationships , this is a unique show, well worth the half hour investments of time. The chemistry between the two mains is shockingly good.